The Embark
by Ash Berlitz
Summary: Ash, who somehow got beaten by Dawn in a Pokemon battle, is now refusing to see her again. Soon, Ash has to change his mind and set off on a journey to find Dawn and possibly, save her. What has happened? Pearlshipping!
1. Chapter 1: Unfortunate Times

**Sorry for not uploading a new story in a long time, I had stuff in life to take care of but, now I am back to writing more stories. I do not own Pokémon.**

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Ash stood at the stairway of his house and sat down and decided to wander around in his thoughts.

Peaceful? You could say that. I'm Ash Ketchum, a black haired raven boy. I'm currently on vacation, and the school has ended for me. Now that I am finished school, I have all the time in the world to start training my Pokémon up to the maximum level of effectiveness! Well, if that was possible. Ash scratches his head. I believe I'm smart, know strategies to victory, I will not give up!

Somehow, Ash is frustrated by a particular event, which has happened a while ago.

 **(FLASHBACK)**

" **Hey, Ash!" Shouted Dawn. She had dark blue hair that matches the beauty of her alluring blue eyes. She is a kind person at school, and her grades are over the top, she spends a load of time studying extremely hard for school. She is a very skilled coordinator, and she can beat trainers! Thank Arceus school is over, and maybe I can spend some time with her.**

 **Dawn has battled trainers, and she emerges victorious all of the time. She is a coordinator, surprising right?**

 **"Ash," Dawn says.**

" **Yes, Dawn?" I reply back, curious to hear what she has to say.**

" **Can I challenge you to a Pokémon battle?" said Dawn, with a gleam expression.**

" **Sure," I accepted her challenge, I know I'm going to lose this fight, now why in the world did she challenge me? This is hell, trying to defeat her is like trying to beat a god. I look at the crowd form a circle around Dawn and me, the people are excited to see this Pokémon battle. This means worse news for me, if I lose, I will be known notoriously as a bad trainer because this is how dumbass this school is.**

 **I can assure you that more than forty people are watching. But, I'm ready. I don't care how great Dawn is; I will show her my pure skills!**

" **Alright Ash, I will use my very trusted companion, and that will be Piplup for this battle," Dawn's hand reaches for her Poke ball, and she throws it, summoning a white flash of light, revealing a figure and that is Piplup. A water type, penguin.**

" **Then I will use Pikachu!" Pikachu jumps off my shoulder. The Pikachu looks at my trusted eyes; we both know that we will fight to our hardest. Pikachu delivers an intimidating look at Piplup while her Piplup tries to do the same, it did not scare me and it did not intimidate my Pikachu and me by the slightest inch.**

" **Piplup, use bubble beam!" Dawn shouted to her Pokémon. Now the battle has started!**

" **Quick, Pikachu dodge!"**

 **Pikachu barely dodges the bubble beam from Piplup. Is Piplup that fast?**

" **Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu aims his thunderbolt at Piplup, and this is a very useful move!**

" **Piplup, dodge!" Piplup successfully dodges Pikachu's Thunderbolt. Is this game about evading now? That Piplup just dodged our thunderbolt like it was cake!**

" **Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Pikachu launches himself into such high velocity and successfully hit Piplup with a successful quick attack.**

" **Good one Pikachu!" Pikachu looks back at me and nods.**

" **Don't get too cocky now!" Piplup, use whirlpool! A colossal water vortex forms above Piplup, and he launches it straight towards us. It is so fast that my Pikachu did not have time to react.**

 **Pikachu gets hit by the whirlpool and the immense force from the vortex launches the Pokémon head first into a nearby tree.**

" **PIKACHU! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" I yell.**

" **Pika…chu." He seems in very critical condition but, we won't give up easily!**

" **PIKACHU, GET UP!" I yelled, and my Pikachu gets up very slowly.**

" **Piplup, use Peck!" Dawn orders her Piplup. Her Pokémon closes the distance to Pikachu every passing second. Piplup is only a few inches from hitting Pikachu.**

" **PIKACHU, QUICK! USE IRON TAIL!" Pikachu is finally up and uses his iron tail to block Piplup's Peck, and the iron tail causes a shockwave propelling Piplup away from Pikachu. This is the field I need, enough space to do work!**

" **Pikachu, now! Use volt tackle!" Pikachu moves at such high speed, towards Piplup.**

" **Piplup dodge!" Dawn yelled. I began to grin. Ha, she won't avoid that! Pikachu hits Piplup with a super effective move. The collision has caused a ton of smoke to form from the dirt ground.**

" **Yes!" I said to myself, I feel the victory coming! I waited for the smoke to clear out, then it hit me. I see that Piplup is still standing up.**

" **What…" I said, in disbelieve. My words fade away, Pikachu seems shocked too.**

" **My Piplup is strong, and it will be hard to take us down."**

" **Pikachu, get ready!" Pikachu nods and enforces his position.**

" **Piplup, use hydro pump!" Holy crap, that's a lot of water!**

" **Pikachu, use Thunderbolt to intercept it!" Pikachu unleashes his thunderbolt. Both moves collide. Pikachu is still unleashing his Thunderbolt and Piplup doing the same. It is a game to see which move is stronger. Unfortunately, the hydro pump begins to out power Pikachu's Thunderbolt.**

" **SHIT!" I watch in shock as the hydro pump out powers the Thunderbolt and hits Pikachu. My partner has fainted.**

" **The winner is Dawn!" Brock shouts. I head over to my Pikachu and pick him up.**

" **You did great, Pikachu." My Pikachu is starting to recover slowly from that.**

" **Dawn, great battle." I went out to shake hands with her but, that was interrupted.**

" **Pfft, you are weak." She left off right when the final bell rang indicating that school is over. Anger began to form inside me. That BITCH! I thought she was kind. Now she is a total jerk. Brock heads to my location.**

" **Ash, how was- "I interrupted him by yelling shut up. I stormed off home.**

 **(END OF FLASHBACK)**

Ever since that battle, we never saw each other. I had a crush on her, and after I had acted all friendly and helpful to her, I was rewarded back with disrespect. I usually hang out with my best friends, which are Drew and Gary. My other friends are just annoying. Drew is a very mature guy, at least he knows logic and is much smarter than me. Gary, he is tough but, has little charisma.

I got up, from the stair steps and decided to visit Drew's house. I start walking to Drew's house. After a few minutes of walking, I see a familiar face, which looks like he is looking directly at me.

"Hey Ash, what's up?" His name is Kenny, he is nice to everybody, he is sorry for everything as well, if you bump into him on purpose, Kenny will say he is sorry.

"Not much, I'm going to visit Drew's house. What about you?"

"I was on the phone texting, Dawn. Unfortunately, she has never responded." That name. Dawn. It brings me such a bad memory.

"She's a jerk," I said, with a serious tone, leaving Kenny in suspense.

"Why?"

"You will figure out," I decided not to talk about what happened.

"Oh, and I will be heading to Drew's house too," said Kenny.

"That's great; perhaps we can do fun things at Drew's house."

Kenny and I began to head to Drew's house. Hopefully, there won't be anyone else that will interrupt our path to Drew's house because right now I feel like utter crap. I just can't stop thinking about what happen with Dawn and I. What is a girl that doesn't treat you with respect? Is it even worth it? I kept asking those questions to myself, as a way of giving myself confidence and innocence.

We finally reached the site. I am the first to knock on the door. Kenny is right behind me, anxiously waiting for the door to open. "Ash, what if there is nobody home?" Kenny asks.

Seriously? That is the stupidest question I have ever heard. Plus, why wouldn't Drew be at home? He told us to arrive right at 1:37 PM. Unless he lied to us, then we will head to our home. Pretty simple. I give Kenny a dumb look.

"Really? Just head back home if Drew doesn't answer the doorbell, genius," I sigh with irritation.

Drew opens the door. "Hey, fellas. Come right in!" said Drew, with a voice filled with excitement, his house presents a great atmosphere of friendship and reliability. The floor made of brown colored smooth planks still surpasses my imagination of a beautiful home. The orange walls and red frame on each wall are enough as my requirements for a beautiful house. Drew has green-colored hair, he never got bullied at school, mainly because of his looks. Every girl wanted to get Drew as their boyfriend. Eh, that never happened. Drew never wanted to have a girlfriend, he said that he doesn't like any of the girls in the school, except for one. Her name was May, I was there trying to help get May and Drew together. I did it because I sense there is great potential within their relationship.

Drew snaps his fingers at Ash, hoping to get Ash's attention.

I should stop thinking now, Drew needs my attention.

"Yes? Sorry, I got carried away by your beautifully outstanding house," I said.

Drew chuckles. "No problem, anyways. We are here to have fun, chill and talk about certain things," Said Drew. I cannot tell if Drew wants to stalk us. I heard some footsteps coming down the stairs, it was none other than Gary. My best friend, who can also be a pain in the butt at certain times. Nothing about him is wrong, really. He always wears a black jacket, and he never wears any other clothes. I have no idea why. He has brown hair and dark blue jeans. Did I forgot to mention that Gary had a lot of embarrassing mistakes at school, good times.

"Hey, Ashy-boy," Drew says, smirking.

"Can you stop calling me Ashy-boy? That never gets old doesn't it?" I said, in an annoyed manner.

"Fine, just for now, since we haven't seen each other in a long time ever since school has ended, thank god it's over. We don't get to face the torture of school work, and we get to have all the freedom in life. Also, my parents aren't here, we can invite as many friends here and turn this into an ultimate party," Gary said with excitement.

Sometimes, Gary's suggestions are over the top. I usually tell him to tone down those suggestions before we get in a ton of trouble, not only me. Everybody that is involved with Gary's ideas.

"Look who we have here, It's Kenny. Long time no see man," Gary said, happily.

"What is up, Gary? I never saw you quite in a long time either." Kenny and Gary greet each other and now pay their attention towards Drew.

"Everyone, take a seat on the sofa," Drew said. Everybody has taken a seat on the couch, Kenny and Garry were snickering about something, I can tell. Nobody can hide anything from me, just by judging their expressions on their face, they are probably giggling about how Dawn. My thinking process is interrupted right when I thought about Dawn and dropped the topic.

"I would like some Pepsi, please," I asked.

"I don't want anything," Said Kenny.

"I want Coca-Cola, you know which drink I like," Said Gary, with no respectful manners at all. Same ol' Gary.

Drew went off to get our drinks prepared, we decided to start a conversation.

"So, Ash. How are things going?" Asked Gary.

"Well, they are between bad and good. You can obviously say things are normal for me but, that switches from time to time," I said.

"Why does it switch from time to time? You can tell us anything, we are your friends," Gary said. Fine, if he wants to know what is hurting me, that is no problem. They might as well try to hunt me down in answers for everything.

"Okay, ever since I lost to Dawn, I was bothered by it. All the time, more annoying she is a coordinator, having no experience in trainer battles. I still managed to lose to her, she must have been very lucky," I said. Hitting the sofa. I finish with my long explanation, hoping to get helpful comments, unfortunately, I am returned with laughter.

Gary laughs. "Hahaha, that sucks Ash." Gary continues to laugh even more. Kenny joins in with Gary's laughter.

"Aww, poor Ash. Got beaten by Dawn," Kenny holds onto his stomach trying to contain his laughter.

I frown. "THIS IS NOT FUNNY GUYS!" Why the hell are they laughing? And just when I did not expect, Drew is laughing too. He heard my story.

"Hah, Ash. Beaten by Dawn? Unbelievable," Drew nearly falls to the ground in laughter while holding the drinks for Ash and Gary.

"Here are your drinks," Drew says while handing out coke to Gary and Pepsi to Ash. After he finishes handing out the drinks. Drew falls to the ground in laughter.

"HAHAHAHA, Ash lost to a coordinator!" Drew rolls on the ground in laughter.

"SHUT UP!" I said, angrily.

"Okay, we will shut up," Gary said, containing his inner laughter. Kenny and Drew stop laughing, Drew decides to sit down.

I ask. "Guys, how did school went for all of you?"

"Terrible," Gary shows a sad expression. "School was boring, and I was clueless for why we need to learn such subjects." Gary drinks his coke. "I would never visit that school again if I were you, Ash." It's obvious we know that Gary doesn't like school. I chuckle.

Drew had to ask a question. "Kenny, did you use to have a crush on Dawn in school?" Kenny instantly blushes to Drew's question. I don't care if Dawn is with Kenny, she is a disrespectful son of a bitch. She really is. Unfortunately for Kenny, I know he will realize that Dawn is not necessarily kind to people.

"Uh, well." Kenny stutters over his words. "Uhm YES, I used to have a crush on Dawn," That left Drew surprised.

I drink my Pepsi. An interesting conversation is about to brew from the depths.

"Oh, you USED to? Meaning that you don't like Dawn anymore?" Drew asked Kenny on that precise point to clean out his suspicions. I know I can't tell anybody my crush. Last time I did, it ended up horribly. I don't want to think about it.

"I will sum up my experiences at school," Drew said.

"Ok, shoot," Gary said. Anxiously waiting if Drew has some interesting things that might catch Gary's attention.

"Alright, here is my school experience. Despite having all the girls attracted to me, I know some were not. I did outstandingly in my subjects, sweet A's. Whenever you look at an A, it is a benchmark for your progress, and it pays off when you study. I love basketball as much as you do Gary but, we have been spending too much time on it, and I think we should improve our social life. I play a lot of games, and I still do amazing in school but, I don't talk often. I can't get a girl if I don't know how to talk to her properly and knew there was going to be a time where I found a lovely looking girl, my style and she had everything to fulfill my requirements. Sadly, I never even talked to her because I had nothing to say to her, it's like I was a ghost," Drew finished his long story. With a sad sigh at the end.

I tried to cheer Drew up. "It's okay, Drew. You will see her again, and you can improve your sociality with us. Giving up is not the solution, you can never achieve anything if you give up," I said, smiling.

"I agree with what Ash says," Kenny said, smiling with hope. "Giving up is not the best path, the real pathway is by conquering your fears if you don't know how to do something, practice for it. Don't stand there hopelessly with no help. Do something about it," Kenny is finished talking, clenching his fist to show a sign of hope.

Gary interrupts. "Hey, guys. I believe we can still text the girls by phone. Misty just texted me right now."

"What did she say?" I curiously asked.

"She said that she wants to meet me," Gary's eyes open wider than expected.

"Ohhh, this means something," Drew butts in.

"DAMN, I THINK YOU GOT YOURSELF A DATE!" I finally laugh for once.

"Oh, crap! Gary is getting hard!" Kenny jokes around and laughs. Gary gets up and gives everybody a death stare.

"EVERYONE, SHUT THE HELL UP, OR I BEAT YOU UP!" Gary yelled. Boy, that was loud. Everybody took cover behind an object to see if he is going to berserk on all of us. It wouldn't end happily if that happens.

"Well, Gary. What are you going to say?" Drew asks, curious to know what will happen.

"She said to come at 3:15 PM," Gary said.

"That is two hours of freedom before you have to go, Gary," I said.

"True, let's use this time for more talking," Kenny said.

Moving onto Kenny. "So, Kenny. How do you think the school went for you?" I asked.

"I guess I will need to give a long story on how school went for me, alright then," Kenny took a deep breath. I had no idea why but, didn't care. "At the start of school, I thought I was going to be bullied right at the first sight, so I tried to be close to people that are in a group so that people believe that I have friends, and I'm not a loner that can easily be bullied around with. But, that didn't work." Kenny laughs. "It failed, actually. The people that I was trying to be in a group with bullied me for being a loner. At least they didn't bully me for the entire school year, they were sent to the office after I snitched on them and they never bothered me again. But, my school marks. You can say that they are a random mixture of results. C's, B's and at rare chances. A's. My love life in school was pretty boring, I couldn't find a girl that isn't my type until I met Dawn but, she is very kind to everybody until I asked her something and she refused to help me with it and told me to fuck off," Kenny finishes his long story. And that one seems pretty saddening too.

"OH SHIT," Gary said, shocked at what Dawn said.

"I never knew Dawn can quite be the bitch at certain people," Drew said. Scratching his head. I began to agree with them, with them talking about how much they hate Dawn, it makes me feel happier and avenged.

"I hate Dawn, she is a jerk that told me I was weak and decided not to shake hands with me for a good battle, and I even used to have a crush on her," I said, feeling avenged. I was expecting everybody to say something about the crush I mentioned on Dawn, it looks like they didn't hear me.

The last one is Gary. "Now, Gary. How was your school life?" I ask.

"Very shitty, nothing exciting except basketball, I love Misty, you all already know that so keep your mouths quiet about that and don't tease me about it," Gary smiles and continues. "I get shitty grades, you are looking at D minuses all the time. I barely managed to graduate, I was above the 50% limit. That's all," Gary has finished talking. That was a short story.

"Oh, this is a turn of events. Ash has a crush on Dawn?" Drew said, surprised. I knew he would say that.

"Beautiful, Ash has a crush on Dawn, and I never knew that," Kenny laughs.

"Oh damn, Ash is growing up now," Said Gary. With a smirk.

"Hey, don't judge me. I'm a human with rights!" I said, hoping to throw them off the conversation. But, it didn't work out too well.

"You know what should happen? You and Dawn should be together," Kenny suggested.

"Like Ash can even handle a girl," Drew laughs.

"Drew, you didn't even talk to may ONCE," I said, grinning.

"Roasted," Gary said.

Drew blushes to the thought of May. "Excuse me, It's because I was not prepared yet. But, now I am. I have more balls than you," Drew flicks his own hair, as a way to show off.

"This is turning into a comeback battle isn't it?" I asked.

"Yeah, possibly," Kenny said.

This day is actually fun, we are doing a lot of fun things as friends. I can feel like we are going to have a lot of great times without the girls. Maybe not. I snap out of my thoughts.

"I don't want a comeback battle because, I can quickly destroy Drew in it," I said, chuckling.

"Are you going to take that Drew?" Gary asked.

Kenny butts in, feeling the energy of this battle. "This intensity is going to be unleashed!"

"How about we have a Pokémon battle outside to see who's boss?" Drew suggests.

"Yeah! A battle against our two great trainers, Ash and Drew!" Kenny loved the idea.

"I totally agree," Gary said.

Everybody leaves the house and heads outside to an open field. The grass is short enough that it barely covers your shoes. The area is widely open, suitable for a Pokémon battle in any type. Ash positions himself the opposite direction of Drew, standing approximately thirty feet away from each other.

"Let's have a one vs. one, Ash," Drew suggested. I accepted his suggestion.

"I will be the referee," Kenny said.

Drew sends out his Flygon. His Flygon roars like a golden dragon flying in the sky about to strike a city within its range. Except, that it is not that loud. I send out my Pikachu, my one number one companion.

"Alright, Pikachu. Are you ready?" My Pikachu nods, he surely seems ready. Drew looks at me with a shocked expression on his face.

"Are you sure you want Pikachu to battle? Electric type moves are not effective against Ground and Dragon type moves, for your information."

"I don't care, you may never know what will happen," I said with a grin.

Kenny states the rules. "This is a one vs. one Pokémon battle, you cannot substitute Pokémon because, duh it's a one vs. one battle. Whichever Pokémon loses first will be declared the winner, now let the battle begin!"

"I will have the first move," Drew says. "Flygon, use dragon breath!"

"Quick, Pikachu dodge it!" Pikachu's speed manages to successfully avoid Flygon's Dragon breath.

"Now, Pikachu. Use quick attack!" Pikachu listens to my command and begins to charge at Flygon with immense speed. And is able to land a successful hit on Flygon, though it did not do much.

"Flygon, use flamethrower!" Drew commands his Flygon, and it sends a beam of fire heading towards our Pikachu at a high velocity.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt to counter it!" Pikachu aims at the incoming flamethrower and unleashes a bright Thunderbolt, the Thunderbolt was not able to out power the Flamethrower and hits my Pikachu.

"Pikachu! Are you okay?" I ask, worried about Pikachu. He seems to be struck hard by that flamethrower.

"ALRIGHT, PIKACHU get closer using quick attack!" Pikachu gets close to Flygon.

"Flygon, use dragon breath!" Flygon fires a direct dragon breath at Pikachu.

"PIKACHU, INTERCEPT WITH THUNDERBOLT! I yell," Pikachu's Thunderbolt is out powered by the dragon breath and is able to hit Pikachu with such power.

Pikachu falls to the ground and is losing strength. Pikachu's voice is weak. I got to do something fast. I realized something, I found an opportunity! Since my Pikachu is close enough to use iron tail, a very powerful move, it will surely do a lot of damage, and he won't see it coming.

"OKAY, PIKACHU! GET UP AND USE IRON TAIL!" Pikachu gets up and sees that he is very close to Flygon. Pikachu is grunting hard, he jumps and uses iron tail on Flygon. A direct hit!

Drew's Flygon falls hard to the ground. It barely manages to get up after that super effective Iron Tail.

"Now, that's how you do it Pikachu!" Pikachu feels the adrenaline rush through his body, I can almost feel it too.

"I'm glad you are alright, Flygon. Now use Steel Wing!" Flygon's incredible speed at close range strikes my Pikachu quickly with no effort but, it was not an effective move on Pikachu.

"Flygon, use flamethrower!" Flygon readies his flamethrower. Oh no, since Flygon is very close, it is impossible to dodge the flamethrower. All I can do is pray to Arceus and hope that this move will work.

"PIKACHU, USE IRON TAIL AND INTERCEPT!" I yell, I watch nervously to see how the moves will collide. Flygon unleashes his Flamethrower and Pikachu swings his Iron Tail at the flamethrower. Now that's when it hits me, I see Pikachu out powering the flamethrower and getting closer to Flygon another effective move! Pikachu's iron tail out powers Flygon's Flamethrower and critically hits Flygon. Sending it rocking hard to the ground. Flygon faints.

I hug Pikachu. "You did it Pikachu, great job!" Pikachu happily smiles.

"Great job, Flygon. You did amazing work," Drew puts Flygon back in his Poke ball.

"Hey, good battle Ash, after so long, I finally experienced a great Pokémon battle. He took out his hand, and I happily shake it, as respect and for a satisfying battle. Which is how all battles should end like, with respect and happiness.

"Nice battle, guys! That was truly a great duel I haven't seen in a while," Gary says, fascinated by the intense action.

"You heard the man. And you cannot disagree, the battle is overly fantastic," Kenny said.

"Well, I think it's time to head to the Pokémon Center" I suggested.

"Yep," said Drew.

"Everyone, Drew and I will head to the Pokémon Center," I said.

"No problem, man. We will handle things at Drew's house," Gary said, grinning.

"Make sure you don't mess up my house," said Drew, with a worried expression.

"Trust us, we are very reliable," said Kenny.

Drew and Ash head to the Pokémon Center to heal their Pokémon. Meanwhile with Kenny and Gary.

"It's boring without them, right?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah, this is tiresome as hell without them," Gary added in. "But, I have an astonishing idea, how about we play a prank when they come?" Gary suggested.

Kenny likes the idea. "A prank eh? That's going to be amazing, what's the plan?"

"Okay, when they come at home and open the door, they will be splattered with eggs. Since I have engineering knowledge." Gary continues.

"I can make some machines that will shoot eggs, all you have to do is stand at the door, trigger the lever and run away from the robot's sight. They will shoot within two seconds of the lever being triggered," Gary said, smirking.

"I love it, let's start by constructing the weak ass machines," Kenny said.

"Okay, I will head home to get some circuits for the machines and some building blocks to make the devices, you try to find something in the house that will be useful to the trap."

"Leave it to me, I will do that."

"Alright, I'm heading out to my house to get the supplies, make sure they don't come too early otherwise our plan will be a total failure!" Gary leaves the house and heads to his house to get supplies. Leaving only Kenny in the house.

"I am the only person in the house right now, I must find some eggs that the machines can fire at," Kenny searches around the house to locate the refrigerator.

"There it is, it didn't take that long," Kenny opens the refrigerator and reveals a pack of eggs.

"Great! This will be very useful," Kenny puts the eggs on the table, for Gary to load into the machine. Kenny finds some paper in the house and draws a blueprint on how the device will stand using wood, and the trigger. Kenny also marked a power outlet that can be employed for the prank.

After waiting twenty minutes, Gary knocks on the door. Kenny opens it happily.

"Welcome back, Gary. I got some stuff prepared for ya, there are two packs of eggs I found in the microwave, there were four egg boxes but, I only decided to use two packages because I don't want to starve Drew out of food resources. I also made a blueprint on how the machine will stand," Kenny heads the design to Gary. "I'm not finished yet!" Kenny shows the power outlet that Gary will use tor the machine to get power from.

"Jesus Christ. That's a lot of help you provided me. Here, some wood to build a base for the machine to stand on," Gary puts some wires, a circuit and wooden planks on the ground. "Now, let's get building!" Gary says. Kenny begins to build the base for the machine to stand on while Gary adjusts the circuit and starts to connect wires from the circuit to the power outlet, Kenny puts the eggs within the piston inside the machine.

"Almighty machine, about to rise! It is now loaded, now we gotta do is give each other a drink and wait," Gary heads to the refrigerator to find two remaining cans of Coke. Gary hands one to Kenny, and they both drink coke while they wait for Ash and Drew to arrive.

Meanwhile with Ash and Drew.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy, for healing our Pokémon," I said.

"I owe you one, Nurse Joy," says Drew.

"You are most welcome, it's always good to have Pokémon heal after a battle," Nurse Joy said.

"Okay, thank you. Bye!" Gary and I leave, waving goodbye to the nurse. It took us only thirteen minutes to arrive home.

"That was a hell of a good battle, now let's just relax and do one more activity in my house," Drew said.

"Yeah," I twist the doorknob but, the door automatically opened by itself, only to see Kenny standing there.

"Oh, hey there Kenny. I thought the door magically opened by itself," I said, chuckling.

"Same, anyways I'm glad you are back!" Kenny dives into the sofa to avoid the machine sight.

"Uh, why did you run?" Drew asked. To my surprise, I see a metal object with an egg right in the middle of it. I didn't believe it at first but, I saw about twelve eggs coming directly to my face, I received four direct egg hits to my face and to my lower body. I look to my left to see Drew clenched in egg yolk.

"HAHAHAHA," Gary starts laughing hard.

"WHAT THE HELL," Drew yelled.

"What a stupid prank," I said, closing my eyes with frustration.

Drew and I had to get different clothes because our clothes are soaked with egg yolk. I had to go into the shower to clean off the remains of the egg. That is not fun at all. It made Drew, and I pissed off instead. After a seemingly twenty minutes of showering and putting on different clothes. I finally appeared out, with an expression that looks like I want to murder everybody here.

"You guys are pathetic, seriously," I said.

"Sorry, we need fun to stay alive," Kenny said.

"Yeah, you get to have a great time, and the others don't, pretty unfair," I said.

"I should have not invited them," said Drew, disgusted by their actions.

"I'm sorry but, it had to be done," Gary said, bowing down in guiltiness.

"Fine, it's alright for NOW, don't you ever do that shit again," I said.

"Okay, that's a deal," Gary said.

"Hey, Ash. How about we train our Pokémon?" Kenny asked.

"Sure," That is a good idea, I should train my Pokémon, to keep them up to date on their skills. Gary and Drew also join with Kenny and I and head to the field we were once at for the Pokémon battle to train our Pokémon there.

"Team, come out!" I release my Infernape, Torterra, Staraptor, Gliscor, and Buizel. They all stand there waiting for my commands as if they were my soldiers and as if I was the general.

"Alright team, we will train hard by practicing moves upon one another, how does that sound?" I said. All of them agreed to practice, I can watch how precise their moves are, I want Pikachu to get stronger, which is why I told Pikachu to train with them as well. I glance over to see Drew, training with his Flygon and performing contest moves, not bad. I see that everybody here is training hard, I got to train harder too. I need to improve Buizel's Sonic Boom and Gliscor's Fire Fang.

"Gliscor and Buizel I need you to vs. each other in a practice way, not actual fighting, I need to see your fire fang boom Gliscor and sonic boom Buizel. They both nodded, Gliscor tried his fire fang on Buizel first, it looked pretty sharp to me. Even though Buizel is a water type, it looked adamant. Now Buziel tried his sonic boom on Gliscor, damn that was vigorous. I can feel improvement within my team. Gary ain't doing bad either too.

"Team, keep practicing I will be right back," I signal Pikachu to hop on my shoulder. We head to a part of the forest where I can hide from everybody's sight while I can still see them through a hole in the leaves. I lay down on the grass.

"Pikachu."

"Pika?"

"If we ever meet Dawn again, I'm sure we will decimate her to pieces, I almost lost my dream of being a Pokemon master when I got beaten by her. But, no matter what, we will meet her again, and we will destroy her. Even if she used to be my crush. I just really hate how she treats people like that when she wins a Pokémon battle when I meet her, we are going to show her real respect!" I feel fiery on the outside but, freezing inside. This is the kind of spirit I need to beat Dawn.

"Pikachu!" He nods in agreement with what I said.

"This is what I need to be successful, a strong team. No matter how many times we lose, we will use our losses and improve from them, and one day we will go over the top!" I get up and head out of the forest, back to my team.

"Alright, team! Do you all feel ready for any obstacle that will go on our way?" The team roars, showing such spirit and confidence with me. Until I hear someone yell my name.

"ASH!" I look over and see that it is Gary. Kenny and Drew are right beside him, it sounds like they stopped training but, why?

"Yes?" I ask.

"Look at this," Gary hands over his phone towards me.

(Misty: Gary, you can invite your friends too, there is going to be May and Dawn there as well, Dawn wants some friends of yours to come over so she can have a Pokémon battle with them.)

Oh no. Not Dawn, this can't be. She wants Gary to invite us just so we can socialize and let Dawn beat our asses? Not this time, I will make sure to show her what I really got. She. Will. Pay.

* * *

 **Cliffhanger! I've finished the first chapter, and I'm going to start making the second one, do you think that Kenny will be an antagonist in the story? You can** **obviously tell there is going to be some serious events going to occur in chapter two! Please feel free to rate and review. :)**

 **TO BE CONTINUED!**


	2. Chapter 2: Unexpected

**MAJOR NOTICE. Due to high school, I might not be able to update as often and may take a while but, I'm not dead, everyone has their busy time of life. I know waiting is very annoying, but as we are on that topic, I deeply apologize for taking an unbearable long time to update this, so writing this story my priority whenever I have free time.**

* * *

The thought of Dawn telling Misty to invite all of us is shattering me. We have an estimated thirty-two minutes to get ready and head to the location.

"Boys, time to dress up and look cool," Gary said.

"Do we need to wear formal clothes?" Kenny asked.

"No, we do not need to do," Drew said.

"I will get ready," I said. This is hell, I'm always excited to meet girls but, this day now I'm just sweating. I'm trying to decide between going or not going because there is one person I hate the most and it's Dawn. She needs to be taught, yes. She needs to be taught a lesson not to be a cocky son of a bitch.

"Ash, is there a problem? You are spacing out," Drew asked, worried.

"No, there is no problem," I fake a smile. I see Gary come downstairs with clean clothes, at least he isn't going to wear crappy clothes for when he meets Misty. I even believe Gary likes Misty.

"About time we get to spend time with the girls," said Kenny.

"Yeah, don't be too excited about that," I said.

"Whatever, Ash," Kenny said, with an annoyed expression. Apparently, he doesn't know what's going to go down when we arrive there.

"Everyone, come down stairs!" Drew shouted. I was still busy trying to look good as possible, in case Dawn decides to be an idiot again and comment on how bad we look. I am finished, I'm not like a cheap person that has crappy jagged clothes. Smooth clothes, clean hair, clean shoes and clean everything. I head downstairs.

"What's up? You looking a bit sharp today," I said. He is wearing a black long-sleeve shirt with black pants. Seems a bit formal to me.

"Thanks. Anyways, Gary and Kenny are here," Drew says, ensuring that everyone is here and ready to go. "I've gone onto my computer and used the Google Maps to see how long it will take for us to arrive at Hearthome Park, that's where the girls are. Google Maps stated that it will only take ten minutes to get there from our location to their location.

"Alright!" Kenny energetically burst out. Jesus, what's wrong with that guy. Is he really eager to meet Dawn or what?

"Kenny, can you calm your ass down? There was no need to yell like a girl just because you may meet your possible crush Dawn," Gary stated, annoyed with Kenny's shout.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to burst out like that," Kenny said, messing around with his hair.

"Are we ready to go?" Drew asked.

"Yep, we are," I said. I go deep into my thoughts. Let me start planning ahead when we arrive there, it's going to be hell. I know for a fact that I will have to challenge Dawn to a Pokémon battle, and she's going to receive a salvo of heart-damaging insults, I will show her no mercy when it comes to messing with the real Ash.

My team is ready, in case Dawn challenges me again at first sight. Oh, she won't like it. I know she wouldn't. It's not going to be those kinds of battles Dawn will expect, they aren't going to be fun either. Entertainment for me but, not her. I finish giving confidence to myself just by thinking.

Me, Gary, Drew, and Kenny leave the house. It begins, I thought. It is finally time, for a rematch. I can keep thinking about how the battle will go in a ton of different scenarios. Meanwhile, I see Drew jumping in the air like a little girl.

"Are you guys pumped?" Drew asks.

"Yeah, we are," I said, sarcastically.

"We are going to have a lot of fun," Kenny said. I don't believe we will have a good time at all!

"How are y'all feeling so far?" Gary asks.

"I'm fine," Yeah, totally not okay. She doesn't know the real rage I have inside me, I don't want her to lend me her side. What I want is pure revenge. Nobody knows what I have up my sleeve, and it isn't going to be pretty.

We now enter the forest, full of annoying bugs that will mess up our skin. Oh, okay. The location that Misty gave us involves a big forest that we have to go through? That's very cool, not. It pisses me off how we need to suffer these annoying mosquito bites.

Gary spotted the frown on my face. "Ash, why are you upset?"

"Do you not see that you are suffering mosquito bites or what? And, I don't think we are going to have fun at all," I said, knowing that I created a huge dilemma.

"No fun at all?" Kenny asked, wondering why I'm in such a bad mood.

"Ash, what the hell is wrong with you?" Gary asked.

"Wait, I know why," Drew said. Everybody paid their attention to Drew. I'm glad they aren't looking at me now and what I said was pretty stupid.

"Ash, you hate Dawn, right? Let me think, she beat you and treated you like shit afterward. I have one conclusion, anybody that Dawn beats she will offend them. It looks like Dawn wants to be with powerful Pokémon trainers and she will take advantage of them for her coordinator battles," Drew finished, he flicks his hair.

"What an outrageous estimation, that wouldn't be the conclusion, I'm sure Dawn wouldn't use people for her own purposes," I said. Why am I even defending her if she acted like a total idiot towards me?

"There is your problem, you are falling for her," Drew said, chuckling.

I had to contain my blush. "No, I am not! Why would I date an idiot like her?"

"Because you have been training an entire day to fight Dawn again means something right? There are only two ways this can go. You either trained because you were mad and you really want to beat her, or you trained so hard that next time you defeat her you will impress her and to a possible scenario, fall in love," Drew said, chuckling harder.

"I obviously trained hard to beat her because she pissed me off!" I said, I'm losing my temper.

"Is that so?" Gary butted in. "Surely you still have a crush on her, Ash. It's okay, we won't make fun of you for liking a girl, it's all part of growing up," Gary tries to contain his giggling. "Love is a fundamental human need. Eventually, all of us here will be married." Holy shit, how did Gary became this smart now? According to his shitty school marks, he is talking smart currently.

"Well, yeah and what?" I have nothing to say, I know that they are right but, for my dignity, I have to defend myself a bit here.

"I can agree with Gary's point," Kenny said. I don't care about Kenny's opinion. He agrees with anything.

"Ash, it's okay man. You are growing up!" Drew burst into a laugh. Seriously, now he has to start laughing about my crush. That's it.

"Drew, why aren't you growing up then?" I said.

"I am growing up, I'm no longer afraid to talk to May, which is why we are exactly heading there," Drew said, with a smirk. Until I heard something, very unusual.

"Everyone! Heads up, Dawn is coming!" Gary said. The sound of that brought a lot of shivers down my spine. DAWN? I open my eyes and look around. And then, I hear laughing. Gary, Drew, and Kenny fall to the ground laughing.

"Hah! Ash got faked," said the laughing Gary.

"Ash, I will give you some love lessons before we arrive at the location," Drew said.

"Guys, we are only one minute away, we should be seeing them now. Misty stated that May and Dawn will be there also, that's the reason for why all of us are coming. I'm pretty sure we will socialize and crap," Gary said. That only makes me grow more nervous. I gulp.

"Oh shit, we were a bit late, we are five minutes behind," Gary said, looking at his clock. Arceus, I pray to you to lend me your powers because this day will end very terribly. I said in my thoughts, closing my eyes, closing my hands together and just hoping that everything will go fine. I have been nervous for the entire day.

"Ash, I can show tell you some hints on how to get Dawn to be your girlfriend," Kenny whispered to my ear.

"Yeah, how?" I whispered to him back, in a boringly way.

"Pretty simple, she might like you if you beat her which will impress her. I know Dawn is a girl that likes people when she is impressed, I almost managed to get into close romantic things with each other until she gave up me," Kenny almost had Dawn be his girlfriend? I clench my fist in anger.

"Well then, thanks for those hints," I whispered back, sarcastically.

"Hey guys, I see Misty, May, and Dawn in the distance," Gary says, in excitement. That happy face will turn into an angry face, I thought.

I reflect on what Gary said for a few seconds. Did he just say, Dawn?! The word echoes through my whole mind. DAWN?! In what world did Gary say the word, "Dawn." My veins start to tense up. Oh god, the sight of Dawn brings me to a shocking conclusion. I can only imagine a chaotic scenery; the world full of hell, complete with lava and chaos. The heat starts to increase, like a machine without oil. Like a fuse blowing off. Arceus and I obviously know that this world will erupt in a devastating fireball when I get close to Dawn. All that will be left on the surface is metal.

We are only a few inches away from the girls. For which we finally meet head on with them. It brings such a tense mood.

"Hello, guys!" Misty waves at us. After a long time, I can see Misty. Her orange colored hair still seems the same. She is wearing different clothes, an orange sleeve shirt, and black shorts. Her mood is always immature like Gary's. I cough.

"Hey, there. Ladies," Drew says.

"Hi, Drew," May says, shyly.

"Nice to see you May, we haven't seen each other in a long while. Glad we are able to see each other again," Drew said. Holy crap, Drew has finally talked to May.

"Yeah," May shakes Drew's hand. Isn't that romantic? I glance over at Dawn, and then I look away, my smile turns into a frown. She is right there, I thought. She is within my range of comfort. I can challenge her right now but, I will wait it out. I'm going to wonder around, hoping that I will find some weaknesses about her that I can use in the battle to do some real damage. No matter what, I will have to verbally attack her as well. It's what she deserves. I will try to act friendly, for now.

"Hey, Dawn." Kenny greets Dawn.

"Hello, Kenny. It is great to see you all," Dawn smiles. Oh my goodness, that smile almost caused me to explode. BUT, I will not repent. I went to greet her.

"Greetings, Dawn. Never seen you in a while," I said. Unfortunately, she never replied back and didn't greet me. That really hurts me how she didn't greet me back.

"Dawn, is something the matter?" I ask. I'm starting to get angry. I barely talk through gritted teeth.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you there. How are things going, Ash?" Her tone sounded very pale and more like she doesn't want to see me.

"Things are going well, what about you?" I asked. I'm starting to relax just a bit. My muscles easing off the pressure, my breathing going to regular rhythm

"Everything is fine, and I have been practicing for my coordinator contests."

OH, OKAY. Dawn decides to act all friendly with me, I know she must be planning something up her sleeve if she wanted Misty to invite us just for a Pokémon battle. Boy, she's hot and dangerous. I chuckle at my own thought.

"Why are you laughing, Ash?" Dawn questioned me.

"I'm not, I'm chuckling at my own thought,"

"At a stupid idea?" Dawn provokes me.

Stupid thought? I have all the right to defend myself from that insult. Now she asked for it.

"What stupid thought? The only thing I can think of right now is how stupid you can be," I ferociously shouted out.

"OH SHIT," Gary said, hoping to get more of the action, to feel the euphoria.

"Shit's going down! " Drew said. Feeling the same as Gary.

"Hey, shut up Gary, that's our friend Dawn, don't you dare back Ash up!" Misty shouted to Gary.

Gary found a sensitive spot to hurt Misty's feelings. "Excuse me? Go sit the hell down, you can't boss me Ms. AIRBALLER. You can't even shoot a basketball they are all AIRBALLLLS," Gary burst out laughing, he insulted Misty in such a way, her face was abstract and unable to be determined.

The intensity is growing larger than expected. Not only Dawn and Ash are arguing, Misty and Gary decide to have a dispute too. This is not what the boys have planned.

"Now, guys. This isn't a perfect time to fight," Kenny said, smiling and hoping to break the fights up.

"IT'S A PERFECT TIME! THIS IDIOT RIGHT INFRONT OF ME NEEDS TO LEARN," Dawn yelled, and trust me. That was freakin' loud.

"YEAH? YOU RELY ON EVERYBODY TO DO YOUR SHITTY HOMEWORK," I blurted.

"Hey, shut the hell up Ash, stop insulting my best friend like that!" May yelled at me.

"May, you shouldn't even be speaking right now because you're a fucking bitch if you insult my best friend, Ash!" Drew joined the fight, defending me from May.

This became a battlefield, and all I can hear is everyone exchanging insults after another. I glance around, I see that Misty and Gary are in a heated fight, yelling at each other. I look at Drew and May, they both look like they are going to erupt at any given second. And me, I have one significant enemy, Dawn. I knew this day would turn into hell. This feels like we are in World War II! I thought.

"Dawn, if you earn a penny for each stupid thing you say, you would be a billionaire!" I fought back. I was shocked when I saw May and Drew go into a heated argument, probably because of me.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? I KNOW IN MY WORLD I DID NOT JUST HEAR THAT!" Dawn yelled at me. Each time she yells at me, it makes me more pissed off.

My body begins fuming "YOU DEFINITELY HEARD ME, DAWN SO WHY DON'T YOU GO DO EVERYONE A FAVOR AND STOP BEING A COLLOSAL BITCH!" I retorted while yelling as loud as I can. I wonder how she likes that!

Never in my entire life, knew these girls have a hideous dark side.

Dawn reached her boiling point, unable to take in any more insults, she decided to battle Ash. Her friends also released their Pokémon, engaging Gary and Drew in a Pokémon battle. I thought this was going to be the end but, didn't happen and instead this is where things really heat the hell up.

Gary and Drew also release their Pokémon in defense.

"Take it easy, violence doesn't solve problems," Said Drew, in a calm manner.

"Then get away from us and leave us alone!" May yelled. Drew's eyes widened.

"Yeah, that's if she can stop downing Ash!" Gary points to Ash and Dawn, who lost their mind.

Dawn yells to her Pokemon "PIPLUP, USE DRILL PECK ON ASH AND BEAT HIM!" Ash was shocked, his reflexes kicked in.

"STARAPTOR, GO AND ANNIHILATE HER!" Ash commanded, and his Pokémon hit Piplup, Ash was lost in his pool of rage and his Staraptor strikes Dawn. Everyone watched in absolute shock when Staraptor hit Dawn to the ground.

"What the…" Dawn almost couldn't breathe.

"YOU WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN!" Misty commanded her Starmie to fire a lethal dose of Bubblebeam moving at high velocity towards Ash. Unaware, Ash looked at the incoming attack from Starmie and became frozen, defenseless.

"UMBREON, USE PSYCHIC!" Gary defended Ash from the dangerous move that could've injured Ash. Great, now May had to step in.

"Blaziken, attack Umbreon!" May's temper went over the limit and couldn't stand there doing nothing.

"Not so fast. Flygon, attack Blaziken using Aircutter!" Drew said. He kept his professional controlled sense of action and defended Gary's Pokémon. Ash then looks at Dawn, his imagination makes her seem like an outraged demon. She commands Piplup to attack Ash directly, he managed to defend himself by sending Pikachu out. Both three girls and boys were all throwing in their best efforts to finish the battle. Kenny ran in fear away from the fight, that act surely made the guys step their game up.

Why the hell did we all need to fight? Ash questioned himself. But, his time was limited. Drew and Gary looked at each other confused for a moment and went to commanding their Pokémon.

After two minutes of seemingly endless fighting, Ash gets one final critical hit.

"PIKACHU, THUNDERBOLT!" The Thunderbolt was so powerful, it knocked out Piplup and hit Dawn, her hair went up like sparks. The boys stopped fighting, they realized they used too much power.

"Dawn, are you ok?!" May asks, worriedly. Dawn didn't respond.

"Starmie, whirlpool!" It caught the boys off guard and splashed them a few meters away. When the water and smoke were gone, there was nothing, except a destroyed dirt path and damaged trees.

"Jesus, Christ," Drew said. "Was this really necessary?"

"I don't know, man. We had to defend Ash, we can't let them hit us for free, that's not how it works," Gary spat at the ground, angered.

"She deserved it, we won." I finally felt the feeling of revenge that I was always waiting for. I felt no regret for doing my actions, I know it was the right thing to do. All the time training finally gave its toll. She will certainly think a different way about me from now on.

"Ash, do you feel distressed about what we have done?" Drew questioned. Scratching his head, he frowned, regretting everything he did in the fight.

"Pfft, don't feel sorry. You two know that they were the ones that started it and we were only defending ourselves," Ash's smile turned into a devilish grin.

"Yeah, after all, that shit they have done to us, how can we ever say sorry to those girls?" Gary said, with spirit from Ash. Drew then agreed.

"Except for Kenny, he became a wuss, he should've helped us to end the fight quickly and painfully," Gary said.

Do I really feel any feelings of denial or regret? I feel nothing, but only the accomplishment. We all went to our house afterward.

Meanwhile, I arrived home from a fifteen-minute walk through the forest and then the city. My mom is nowhere in sight, probably still doing a night shift, good thing she taught me well to handle myself when I'm alone, so I wouldn't be lonely, I had other things to think about. Summer break almost over, school starts in a month. I went upstairs, the walls were orange-colored like usual, a color that does not mean anything to me. Blackness means darkness to me, I thought. I then opened the door of my room, sat on my comfy black chair. I couldn't stop thinking about what happened today.

I kept spinning around in my chair, I never felt a huge victory in such a long time. Yikes, I must sleep now. I'm over 12:00, way too late for me. I laid down on my bed, pulled up the blanket. I blink a few times.

Then it occurred to me I have two problems, I can't sleep. I'm way too excited, and I'm trying to think of all the positive things that happened today, I'm fighting off fear. I don't know why I'm scared. All that I keep thinking about is how Dawn will treat me in such a negative way in school. I can't stand this, I decide to text Gary and Drew if they are still up, they must be traumatized about today.

I open a group chat on my phone.

"Yo, Gary and Drew. Are you guys still up?" – Ash

"YEAH MAN, I'm up!" – Gary

"Dude, I can't sleep today." – Drew.

"How come bro?" – Gary

"I have the same problem guys, mainly about what happened today. I'm god damn scared" - Ash

"I'm usually a tough man but, this time you're right." - Gary

"I have NO idea why this is happening." – Drew

"Me either, so do you guys want to talk about it? Maybe it will help." – Ash

"Good idea. If anything, I think those girls are going to do very mean shit at us in school, they are hella popular, they have over hundred friends, God knows." – Drew

"I'm with Drew on this one bro, I don't know what their god damn problem was." – Gary

"Yeah, same! Dawn insulted me out of nowhere, I made no negative move at all, she thought I was making fun of her, it was only a small laugh." – Ash

"True, I don't know their problem." - Drew

Suddenly, I lost connection. I open, my window and I see all the lights of the city turned off, must be a power outage. Damn it, why did it have to happen at the wrong time? I take a deep breath and head to bed, I pull up my blanket with a little bit of fear.

A few hours later, I wake up. It is the morning. I go downstairs. I look at myself in the mirror, my hair didn't mess up today, what a surprise. I head downstairs to see that breakfast is already made for me.

I scratch my head, my mom made breakfast for me today that fast? I shrug it off. Before I went to eat, someone knocks on the door.

Curious to see who it is, I open it.

OH, IT CAN'T BE. In the mother of Arceus. My thinking falls apart.

"DAWN?" The first word that came out of my mouth.

"Hey, there. Ash." She paused for a bit and said my name. I could feel shivers in my body already.

"Wh. Wha. What are you doing here?" I ask, immensely shocked, I never expected her to come. I was not even thinking about this!

"Ash, I came here to apologize," Dawn said, frowning. She bowed down in disgrace. My stomach had butterflies flying all over, and now I'm regretting what I have done as well.

"I'm sorry for treating you bad yesterday, I didn't know what I was thinking, if you were mad about that very old thing that happened between us, The first don't remember, it was that Pokémon battle when you lost, I treated you in such a horrible manner, I could never forgive myself, so please, would you accept my apology? I know you are a great guy and su.. such. She paused there, almost revealing her blush."

Ash was stunned. I couldn't believe this, this is a major sign that she likes me, it somehow gave me a lot of confidence. "I accept your apology, I shouldn't have overacted yesterday too." I didn't have that much to say. She then hugged me. My face turned red like it was a door knob being heated to 300 Celsius.

"Is it alright if I stay in your house for a while? I was exercising today." She asked. How could I say no to that?

"Sure, come in. Do you want something to drink?" I offered, nicely with a smile.

She flickered with her hair. "No thanks."

I rub my chin. "No problem, so you are totally cool with what happened yesterday?" I had to ask the question again, may sound stupid, but I had to make sure.

She looked up for a moment. "Yes, I'm over it, now that we resolved it, I feel very comfortable that the problem is solved now." She sighs.

"Mhm." I nodded.

"What about you?" She raised one of her eyebrows. A curious expression I suppose.

Well, now that I feel refreshed now. I could say a few things. "Jesus, I was scared about it, last night. Good thing you came here to talk about it, I was never expecting you, though." I move to sit beside her, I hope she doesn't mind.

"I understand." She then sits up straight. "Can you get me a drink? Any type would be helpful, sorry if I didn't ask earlier."

"No worries, I got it covered." I stand up from the couch and head to the refrigerator to get Dawn a drink. Right, when I turn back. My jaw drops.

"Sorry, Ash. This was all a trick, I will never forgive you nor apologize to you." She pulls out a gun. Fear is running through my veins; my eyes are about to explode from my skull. Flashbacks came to me, about everything that I cared about, I couldn't believe the scene, I was going to die. She pulls the trigger, and a flash happens.

I wake up and yell so loud. "HOLY SHIT!" Out of all the great things I was enjoying in the dream, it had to end up as a nightmare. I can still feel my heart beating incredibly fast, everything around me became deaf, I had adrenaline flowing all over my body, the flow of energy goes rapidly throughout my body caused by the stressful situation. I kept looking around too much like I had post-traumatic stress disorder. I also felt something else, the feelings for Dawn that I had vanished. I don't like her anymore, I don't feel it anymore, I had trouble figuring out if that was a right or wrong thing. So many thoughts were coming to my head that I yelled at the top of my lungs to release the intense mental pressure, clear everything that I'm thinking about and wash everything away and leave my mind in blank.

I took a few deep breaths. Calm down, it was only a stupid little nightmare. My mom came rushing upstairs. She was so worried, due to me screaming so loud as if I was being stabbed by someone. "Honey, are you alright? What happened?" She kept asking too many questions.

"Nothing mom! It was only a stupid dream that I was terrified of, nothing to worry about!" I said, frustrated. I kicked my chair.

"Ok, dear. I will give you some time to recollect yourself together also, breakfast is ready." She then went downstairs, reassured that everything was okay. I sighed. The first thing I thought about is calling Gary and Drew immediately.

"Guys, are you able to come to my house in one hour? We need to talk about important stuff" – Ash

They both said they could come. I went downstairs to eat breakfast, the thoughts about the dream I had is disappearing very fast. But, what happened yesterday is probably something that will stay inside my head for a damn long time.

This time, I was eating breakfast slower than usual. I couldn't let my mom see me in this state so she wouldn't worry. I finish eating breakfast and head upstairs to fix myself, my messed-up hair from that crazy dream. I had to wear something different.

"Dear, I'm going to work!" My mom shouted. "I will be back soon, take care." I went downstairs and sat on the couch waiting for Gary and Drew to come. Forty minutes later, I hear a knock on my door. I won't be cheated, it must not be anybody else except them. I open the door slowly, I sigh. It's Gary and Drew, for once.

"Hello guys, come on in," I said. Now feeling that I'm safe.

Gary held the door for Drew. "Thanks, Gary," Drew said and focused on me. We all sat down on the couch, I turned off the television.

"How was last night?" I asked, hoping to see if I got anything similar from them.

"It was all right except for the power outage and sleep problems," Drew said, tiredly.

Gary shakes his head. "Couldn't get a good sleep today,"

So far, I believe I'm the only one that got a nightmare. "Did you guys have any dreams?"

"No, not that I'm aware of," Gary spoke.

"Same, no dream. Why?" Drew asked, he flicked his hair and cocked his eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, nothing. Just curiosity."

Drew elaborates about his experience. "I don't know why I didn't sleep well last night, I suppose the girls couldn't sleep well too, they experienced the same terror that we experienced yesterday, the fight is something that they will remember for sure." Drew puts his palm under his chin and looks down.

Gary stands up and walks around. "How do you know that Gary? Oh, right. They were also there, and we beat their ass. They must be suffering more than us probably," Gary laughed. I laughed with him as well.

I was laughing so hard. "All those crazy scary feelings about the girls are gone. I don't think I like Dawn anymore because of what happened," I crossed my arms.

"About that," Drew butts in. "It's not about their looks, it's about their personality that matters, I think I said this before."

"You have a point," Gary said.

"Oh, guys did I forgot to mention that summer break will end soon?" Good thing that popped up from my head, it's crucial.

"DAMN, I almost forgot about that," Drew facepalmed.

"High school's going to be boring," Gary said, annoyed.

I wave my hand in excitement. "Hey, I realized that there is going to be class competitions in school, that's going to be fun." I hope to God that Gary and Drew are in my class, thanks to them I always have something to think about.

"I haven't forgotten about that Ash, I wonder if the teachers are going to be strict?" Gary asks dumbfoundedly, he then sat down on the couch again and put his hands behind his head.

Drew coughs. "Erhm, I remember last time when you were sent to the office for acting as the teacher when clearly you're not." Drew was shaking his head in disappointment.

"I don't care, at least it got me popularity," Gary grins and crosses his legs and looks at the TV remote. "How about your popularity skills Drew? Clearly, you're not on TV!" Gary started laughing. They really needed to bring up an event that happened two years ago, I sighed at the conversation.

"Yeah, ok. At least I'm not notoriously known for anything, but you are." Drew pointed out, changing his expression to a smirk.

"This argument is foolish," I said. Like usual, Gary and Drew always debate about every small thing, it could get irritating. We stood there and talked for an hour at my house till they decided they should head home now and do other things. I was busy cleaning up after their mess, Drew didn't do as bad but Gary, he is a spilled trash can. After I had been finished, I went to go get my phone and text Kenny.

"Kenny, are you there?" – Ash. Ten minutes later, he replies.

"Yes. Why?" – Kenny

"Why did you abandon us yesterday? Didn't you see they were attacking us? Why didn't you help us?" – Ash

"Look, I'm not a man that wants to get into any fights, but you messed up." – Kenny

I widen my eyes. I screwed up? Now that is something I really need to know about.

"How?" – Ash

"Man, I don't know how to explain this to you." - Kenny

I can tell at this moment he was not happy about yesterday, mainly me.

"I won't be pissed or anything, I just need to know. Please." – Ash

"Ok, Dawn is a very attractive girl alright? You mess with her, and the entire school will be on you like wildfire, there is no way to reverse that." – Kenny

I was in suspense for a while. I don't care if Dawn has fame and known by everyone, I got friends to protect me. But, that really was some useful information.

"Thanks, that helped. No sarcasm." – Ash.

I then put my phone away. Excellent, now I have more things to think about when I go back to school. I went back to my daily routine.

Twenty-nine days has passed. There are two more days left of Summer break, I had no dreams whatsoever relating to the scene that happened with my friends and Dawns. Thank lord I'm completely over that. The first thing I thought about is calling my friends over tomorrow to prepare for school. I do my daily wake-up routine, everything was done. Breakfast, fixing myself, making sure I'm ready.

I then started hearing a lot of footsteps outside my house. I walk up to the window and take a peak. I saw Dawn, this time I wasn't shocked, scared but surprised. I see she is walking with twelve different people, most of them I don't even know. It's likely that they are going to a party of some sort or to hang out. I better tell Gary and Drew about this.

* * *

 **Please rate and review. I would appreciate it if you tell me how I'm doing so far. Hopefully, I managed to improve my writing and take in consider some suggestions and things I learned from reading other stories. Chapter three won't take that long to be made and like always, have a great day pearlshippers and everyone!**


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